Scott Eveland football injury case settles

SAN MARCOS  A settlement has been reached in the case of Scott Eveland, the Mission Hills High School football player who suffered a debilitating brain injury during a game in 2007.

San Marcos Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Holt confirmed Friday that a settlement has been reached and that it will be finalized at a hearing in Vista Superior Court next Friday, March 9.

Holt said the parties have agreed not to disclose the settlement details until the court proceeding, at which time a joint announcement will be made.

Attorneys for Eveland, the district, and the county’s Office of Education, which insures school districts through a Joint Powers Authority, did not respond to questions Friday.

Since a January trial date was continued, the lawyers have refused to answer all questions about the case. A settlement is expected to be in the millions of dollars because Eveland requires constant attention, but could live a full life if properly cared for. His mind is active; however, his body is severely disabled.

Court papers indicate Eveland’s lawyers were at one time seeking as much as $25 million.

His lawyers were prepared to argue at trial that minutes before the September 2007 game Eveland went to the team’s athletic trainer and asked not to play because he had a worsening headache that was so bad he couldn’t even focus his eyes.

The trainer, Scott Gommel, then went to Coach Chris Hauser.

According to one witness, who was a student trainer at the time, Hauser was

to the effect of “These are my players, and I’ll decide who plays and who

doesn’t.”

Eveland started the game and collapsed about 30 minutes later. Two other young witnesses were expected to testify that in the days after Eveland collapsed, Gommel told them that he had gone to Hauser and told him of Eveland’s complaints but that the coach put him in the game anyway.

Under oath during two of the more than 300 depositions taken in the marathon legal case, both Hauser and Gommel swore those conversations never occurred.

Lawyers for the school district, according to court documents, were to argue at trial that Eveland’s injuries were the result of one tragic, unforeseeable play during the game and that the witnesses were not telling the truth.